


Grow As We Go

by annioe



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, First Fanfic in a Really Long Time, First Kiss, Fluff, High School, Mutual Pining, Pining, Teenagers, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27654812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annioe/pseuds/annioe
Summary: Zelda hated Link.That wasn’t an exaggeration in Zelda’s mind. She absolutely despised him. Why? Because back in middle school, Link betrayed her.The two had grown up as childhood friends. Best friends in fact. They told each other everything, well as many secrets as a child could possibly have. Link told Zelda all about his obsession with chicken nuggets while Zelda told Link about her fascination with frogs. The two were inseparable.Until that one day.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 68





	1. That One Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I haven't written a fan fic in about 2 years so this is slightly weird. This is based on a prompt i saw on tumblr about childhood friends to enemies to lovers. I haven't gotten anyone that is also obsessed (and in love with) zelink. I, myself, am a fluffy, mutual pining person so that's what this fic is going to be about the majority of the time.
> 
> Please enjoy! If this fic gets enough traction, I will continue. It takes a lot of effort to produce and continue fan fics so hopefully I'll have the motivation soon.

Zelda hated Link.

That wasn’t an exaggeration in Zelda’s mind. She absolutely despised him. Why? Because back in middle school, Link betrayed her.

The two had grown up as childhood friends. Best friends in fact. They told each other everything, well as many secrets as a child could possibly have. Link told Zelda all about his obsession with chicken nuggets while Zelda told Link about her fascination with frogs. The two were inseparable. 

Until that one day.

It was in the eighth grade. Final English assignment, poetry, and it was a group presentation. Zelda hated group presentations. Who doesn’t? They split the responsibility up and people never do their share. She would much rather do everything herself. No need to settle for anything less than perfection. Of course, Zelda never settled for anything less than being the best. Thankfully the teacher wasn’t assigning the groups and the students would get to pick their own partners. Simple enough. She knew Link would obviously be the best candidate. He was the only one Zelda could trust to actually do their assigned work.

But she watched as he walked across the classroom to ask Mipha. Zelda’s eyes were glued to Link’s back as he waltzed his way between groups of other people and towards the blushing girl. Maybe it was some mistake? Did he not want Zelda as his partner? Why would he not want to partner with her? She was most definitely the smartest person in their class, and she had the report cards to prove it. Why would he want to buddy up with someone who… who wasn’t her?

No matter. She suppressed these feelings until they didn’t seem to bother her anymore. She’ll just find someone else. 

She partnered with a kid named Daruk. He had the reputation of being the class clown and very likeable, something that would definitely benefit her in the presentation aspect. But those feelings she received when she’d look at Link talking to Mipha didn’t help at all. Their shared laughter, their intimate grins, the acting like they’d been friends for years. She swore she never saw them even look at each other before that day. Daruk caught onto Zelda’s wondering eyes. He’d get her attention back by providing a joke or asking Zelda a question about the assignment. Usually, it brought her back to the task at hand. 

Things only got worse when Link and Mipha received a better grade than her. Because of the perfect grade they received, Zelda’s mere 95% made her look like a failure. However, that isn’t where it stopped. He began beating her in sports, in mathematics, in hospitality. He started talking to people she never even knew existed. She started hearing whispers from girls who had apparent crushes on the blonde boy and how he was perfect at everything he did. He became captain of both the archery and fencing team. He was top of hospitality and mathematics. She tried to counter act this by becoming president of the student council, starting a robotics and women in science club. She was the top of all her Science and Art subjects. Yet, his grades were always rivalling hers. Over the rest of the years in middle school and high school, they continued to drift further and further apart. Meanwhile, her immense distain for Link just kept growing and growing. 

She knew that growing apart was a part of life. But the way Link made it overtly obvious that he was a more perfect person made her blood boil. More perfect because he made it very clear that he didn’t need or want her around anymore. Nevertheless, Zelda didn’t give up. She didn’t settle for mediocrity. She strived for the best. Even if that meant that Link was out of the picture.

Finally, senior year. Physics class. Zelda wrote frantically in her notes, jotting down every small detail on the slides. Her notes were considered aesthetic. With curly titles and headers for each subtopic, she put her heart and soul into making it look as neat as possible. Link on the other hand was about to fall asleep. He wasn’t scribbling anything down, rather, he was just blankly looking at the slides scroll by. The teacher, Purah as she insisted to be called by her first name, reached the end of the slideshow. She stood in front of the projector, turning it off before clearing her voice.

“Today is assignment day.”

Everyone in the back groaned.

“This is your team, experimental assignment so you’ll be put into pairs. I have assigned everyone a group member and don’t you think about asking for partner switches. This is 50% of your mark so make it count.”

Zelda looked up from her notes to assess the room. She still despised the idea of group projects, but she hated the fact that it was worth 50% of her grade. Well as long as she…

“Zelda, you’re paired up with Link. Click snap!”

The two slowly looked at each other. Their eyes met and the only feeling Zelda could describe was frustration. Of course this is how the world would decide to treat her on a final assignment. 

She decided to stop listening to Purah as she continued to go on about partners. Zelda got more and more jealous the longer she went on. Why were THOSE people allowed to work with someone other than their betraying ex-best friend? She fully blacked out before someone said her name.

“Zelda?” Link’s voice was right in her ear. She jumped back in her chair before glaring at him. Without a word, she raised an eyebrow and Link seemed to know what she meant immediately. “We were partnered together for the Physics prac. We were asked to sit next to our partners, but all your stuff is on the chair next to you.”

Zelda only peered at her school bag. She didn’t move. Link’s eyes moved from her to the bag and back to her. He just picked it up and put it on the floor. Zelda’s glare got more intense when he sat beside her, the smell of his aloe vera after shave attacking her nose. He sat with his arms on the desk, shifting his view to her notes.

“Wow, I like your notes. They’re so cute. Your handwriting is neat,” he commented, leaning in towards her to try and get a better look. She moved her book in the other direction, making the book further and further from his grasp. Only then is when he returned a flash of annoyance but proceeded to try and make conversation.

“We haven’t talked in a while. What’s up?”

Zelda simply replied looking directly into his sky-blue eyes, “still don’t like you.”

Something about what she said made his face drop. His eyes turned a darker shade, similar to a sapphire tone. His mouth dropped from a grin to a disappointed and seemingly shocked frown. His usually happy domineer changed and Zelda almost felt bad about what she said.

Almost.

Nonetheless, she continued. “I guess we should get started on this project. We’ll need to collect the data of the current created when shining different wavelength lights on these different metals.”

She quickly took a slight look at Link to see if he even seemed to care. He was in fact, listening intently to what she was saying. When she paused to glance at him, he hummed, looking back into her eyes. She felt a feeling inside her. She finally got a good look at him all grown up. Link’s blonde hair appeared golden when in the sun’s reflection. The length was right around his shoulder, but he had tied it back into a ponytail, however some of the strands framed his face. His eyes lit up, back to the piecing light blue. His facial features were stronger, his jaw line now cutting sharper and his bone structure being more prominent. He chewed on his lip when listening to her speak. She focused intently on that, wishing that he could bite hers… she instantly rid of those wondering thoughts in her mind. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She couldn’t think that, and she most definitely won’t. But his eyebrows needing in slight concern when she stopped let her calm more than she expected it to. She tried attempting a friendly face, one reflective of his. “Would you want to come to my house to work on this? My parents won’t be home until later so we can work on this undistracted.”

His eyes lit up, his smile returning to his lips as he nodded. Zelda couldn’t control the cheeky feeling inside her stomach that seemed to appear when Link’s eyes looked directly into hers. She couldn’t hide her smile anymore. Maybe she didn’t completely hate him. Just, disliked.


	2. That One Afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments asking for a continuation! Hope you enjoy (I don't have a beta so please tolerate my grammar if there are any mistakes).

Link promised to drive Zelda home that afternoon. 

He asked her to meet him outside the second school gates, just east of the building. She didn’t have much of a choice, she was either catching the bus or walking home if she didn’t receive any offers. So, though she could barely stand Link’s presence, it was the most logical solution. 

Before leaving, she made sure to stop by Impa’s locker to see if she was there. Impa, Purah’s sister, was admittedly Zelda’s only friend. After Link decidedly left her, she didn’t have many friends really. Daruk was friendly to her after their assignment was complete but he always remained loyal to Link’s side. Impa joined their high school when Purah began teaching there and they grew close. She’d like to think they grew closer to anything Link and her ever had. 

She turned the corner and saw Impa, passively placing her textbooks inside her locker. 

“Hey,” Zelda approached her. Impa turned around, just realising that she was being spoken to. She returned a wave.

Zelda leaned against the locker next to Impa’s and groaned in annoyance. “Guess what? I got partnered with Link on my stupid Physics assignment and now I’m going to have to deal with him all afternoon. Ugh, I hope he doesn’t get any pretentiousness on me.”

Impa laughed in response, Zelda looked confused. “Him? Pretentious? You’re the pretentious one.”

Zelda scoffed and crossed her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The Sheikah girl didn’t answer, only moving to close her locker. “So, where are you two going?”

“My house.”

Impa hummed, nodding her head in agreement. “Let me get this straight. You don’t lik- scratch that, you HATE this boy for betraying you when you were younger and now, the first time you’ve talked to him in years, you invite him to your house? What kind of logic is that?”

Zelda’s mind went completely blank. 

“I-…” she couldn’t even think of anything to say. Impa just gave her a look that saw right through everything. 

Embarrassed, Zelda just said goodbye and ran off to the eastern gate. When she opened the doors, she was met with the blazing sun and Link, holding a helmet. Zelda tugged on her bag strap as she observed if anyone was judging her. Yes, maybe this rivalry was all in Zelda’s head but Link being seen with someone like her was bound to start some gossip of sorts. The boy was looking at his phone, scrolling through texts. He looked up and saw a paranoid Zelda.

“Hey,” he smiled, putting his phone into his pocket. She did not smile back.

“Let’s get going,” she walked past him, looking for a car that could possibly belong to him. She walked quickly, even though she had no idea where she was going. She just wanted to get this over and done with. Link run up behind her before shouting her name. She whipped around, the boy watching as her hair blew in the gentle breeze. Her eyes fluttered when she blinked, her eyes drawing directly to him like they were daggers in his chest. His breath halted slightly from how pretty she looked before he finally caught up to her.

He stood a fair distance away. Enough that he could compose himself because she just smelt like sweet lavenders and a hint of vanilla. Her emerald eyes shone with a tint of yellow when she stood in the sunlight.

“My bike is over there,” he pointed to his right.

“Bike?”

“Well yeah, my motorbike.”

Without a second thought, he instinctively grabbed her hand and guided her to his bike. Zelda, not knowing what to do because the touch from his hand sent a lightning strike up her arm, let go discretely. She proceeded to trail behind him, asking herself why her body let it FEEL like that. He didn’t seem to notice. They stopped when they arrived at a dark brown motorcycle. 

“This is it,” he turned to look at her with a subtle smile. She decided to show a fake grin before he turned around again, letting her face settle into an empty expression. He rummaged through the back-storage compartment of the bike, finally pulling out a second helmet. The helmet itself was small, almost for a kid’s head and was a shade of silent princess blue. “It’s my sister’s but I think you have a small enough head to fit it.”

Was she supposed to be offended?

He tossed the helmet to her. She caught it, looking at the headwear and looking back at Link as he fitted the helmet onto his head. His hair proceeded to get ruffled as he slid the helmet on, his crystal-clear eyes peering out for vision. His eyes were insanely captivating. She unknowingly watched as he finished putting it on. She continued staring, her cheeks slightly heating up as Link turned towards her. He raised an eyebrow. He looked down at her hands and back into her eyes, sending signals to her stomach to panic. She only continued to stare as Link began approaching her. He grabbed the helmet out of her hands before squashing it on over her head, finally sending Zelda back into reality.

“HEY!” she screeched as Link laughed. She tried struggling out of his hold, but he continued to mess around with her.

“I thought you needed help or something. That’s why you kept staring at me.”

Flustered with how he noticed, she cleared her throat. “Well, I can do things myself,” she mumbled out whilst she fixed the helmet’s positioning. 

“See, I told you it would fit,” he smiled satisfied. He hopped onto the bike, his foot kicking the kickstand and putting the keys in. Zelda only watched, the grip on her bag strap getting tighter. “Get on.”

As much as Zelda fully knew they would hopefully be safe, she didn’t want to entrust her life in his hands. If he didn’t like her as much as she didn’t like him, he’d purposefully fling themselves into danger. But the positive to that was that he’d be charged for all the accidents that would occur and if he ended up hurt to the point of … okay she isn’t that evil. She would care if he got hurt. She admitted she wasn’t that petty.

“If you’re that scared, you can hold onto me,” he smirked as pink appeared on Zelda’s ears. She pressed her lips together, taking a step closer. He reapplied the kickstand and got off, offering a hand. She held on the seat firmly. Link got back on, kicking the stand and leaning the bike on his leg. Zelda, freaked out by the sudden shift, unconsciously wrapped her arms around Link, tightly yet not completely suffocating him. When she finally noticed what she did, she didn’t let go. She couldn’t come up with a particular reason why, but it did feel comfortable. Her final reason was that if he was going to purposefully put her life at risk, she might as well attempt to give him breathing issues.

Link immediately noticed her hands on him. Her head was tucked against his back, her cheek squishing into it. She was holding on fairly tight but luckily, he could still breath. Her hands rested between his waist and his chest, being able to feel the light indents of his abs. She didn’t remember him being that fit but guessing at how he now trained the majority of the week, he must’ve built some muscle. She wouldn’t admit it, but he was also really warm. The heat that radiated off him seemed to calm her unknowingly. Her hands lightly played with his clothing, a cotton t-shirt with a denim jacket, enjoying the thought of him shirtless too much. She tried getting rid of these thoughts, but they kept coming back.

• • •

Link pulled up to Zelda’s house. She had moved since the last time he visited. She moved further away from his house so when he drove up her extensive driveway, his eyes had to readjust to the monument in front of him.

To compare it to a castle would be an understatement. He felt like a dwarf standing next to the front door. It had arches on the outside. What kind of rich person’s house didn’t have arches? It was big, white with wooden accents. Zelda gradually let go of Link’s chest, practically jumping off the bike. Link didn’t move, breathing an audible ‘woah.’

Zelda looked at what he was gawking at and shrugged, “my dad got promoted last year. We were able to afford it. You’d think that with this money they’d let me drive to school, but they only want me to when it’s raining. They’re a cheap scape when it comes to fuel.”

He laughed, hoping to comfort the awkward tension they experienced on the way there. They didn’t talk to each other the entire way here. Zelda just hugged Link for dear life, something he didn’t initially intend. Zelda didn’t seem to want to talk about anything either. She stayed quiet besides her occasional shrieks when they’d stop at a traffic light.

“Hello?” Zelda said, directly in front of Link. He blinked to readjust his vision before he saw Zelda holding the helmet she was wearing in her hands. Goddess, her hair was perfectly layered on her shoulders and her skin looked incredibly soft. He didn’t see her growing more impatient and slightly concerned when he didn’t respond. 

“Link?” she asked again, the word coming from her mouth sounding like complete bliss. She rolled her eyes before placing the helmet on the handle and walking inside. Realising how dumb he probably looked, Link quickly took his helmet off and ruffled his hair, so it didn’t look as terrible as it would’ve been. He followed Zelda a few steps behind, still staring at her entire yard. Pool, jacuzzi, a pool house. He swore the pool house was the size of his apartment. 

She opened the door. “Dad, I’m home and Link’s here.” The inside was as astonishing as the exterior. He thought the hand railing along the staircase were made of actual gold. He never asked to see if he’d be proved wrong. 

Link nervously chuckled, “what did your dad get promoted to? A millionaire?”

Zelda uncomfortably laughed in response, refusing to answer the question. They turned to see an old man with a white beard. He walked down the stairs, staring at something on his phone. He looked up to see his daughter and the boy beside her. Link had the strange feeling of kneeling down. 

“Link?” the man spoke, hurrying down the stairs to take a closer look. “My boy! You haven’t aged a day. Why haven’t you visited sooner?” he asked, Zelda looking uncomfortably embarrassed as her face went red.

“Afternoon… sir?” Link coughed out, “I haven’t been invited over… I guess.”

“Call me Rhoam. Zelda, why haven’t you invited this young man over more often?”

Zelda groaned and hid her face in her hands. She needed an excuse quick, “we’ve just been busy. Like right now. We’ll see you at dinner,” she quickly grabbed Link’s hand before rushing up the stairs and into her room. She could hear her dad faintly tell her to leave the door open so he knew they weren’t doing anything suspicious, which made her grow more red.

“Uh, Zel?” Link questioned. Zelda looked down, realising that they were still holding hands. She swiftly retracted it, pushing past him before settling at her desk.

“Don’t call me that,” she whispered. She hadn’t been called that in four years. Not ever since Link and her were just kids. She took off her bag, pulling out her laptop and notes. “We should get started.”

Link didn’t retaliate and sat on her bed, “you have a nice room.”

“Thank you,” she automatically responded. Her room wasn’t as elaborate as the rest of her house. It had plain white walls with framed pictures and posters. Her wooden floors were clean, her queen bed taking up the majority of the corner. By no means did the simplicity minimise how spacious it was however, with a vanity and bookshelves all around, a desk across from her bed and a walk-in closet on the other wall. She continued to pull out her pencil case and headphones. She sat on her desk chair, spinning around to face him. His leg was tucked underneath him as his other leg hung over the side. His laptop sat in front of him. He gave her that smile, the one that made her feel things, but she didn’t say anything. 

“Where’s your notes?” she asked as he didn’t appear to have anything before him. His smile faltered slightly but maintained its annoying charm.

“I don’t really take notes, I just remember things. It’s easy to understand when you remember everything,” he admitted. Zelda felt like her mouth was foaming. Obviously, he’s so good he doesn’t even need notes to get perfect grades. 

She tried casually shrugging it off, “well then. I guess we’ll just get started.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahah, sorry it took so long for me to upload. As promised, I tried making this chapter a little longer - just to expand it a bit more. It might be another while before the next chapter comes out so please bare with me.


	3. That One Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of dialogue so be prepared.

The two got as much done as they possibly could. They’d finished their introduction, hypothesis, background research and experimental risks. They hadn’t really talked, more so Zelda would say something, and Link wouldn’t disagree. He wouldn’t even question anything as a response but simply nod or hum in agreement. Zelda’s dad had popped in occasionally to see how the two were going. Link gave him one of those stupid smiles as Zelda would say they’re doing fine. He even brought them cookies on one occasion. 

The two were just finishing up. Zelda expected that Link would decide to leave immediately once they were done, agreeing to only work on this during class and go their separate ways. But instead, he stuck around, looking at the hung photos on the wall.

“Do you remember that time when we were in the playground and you tried to force feed me a frog?”

Zelda’s head popped up from her laptop, raising an eyebrow in confusion. 

Link continued, “we were sitting in the sand pit and we heard a rustle in the bushes. You ran towards it and you pulled out this green frog. You told me all about this documentary you watched and how frogs gave you super speed when you ingested them. Then your told me to try it.”

“To tell you the truth, turns out that wasn’t a documentary, rather it was a conspiracy theory show debunking elixir theories.”

Link gave her an astonished look, his mouth shifting from an open gasp to a swift smile. “No way.”

Zelda hummed, “I guess I’m glad you didn’t end up eating it because the frog ran away.”

“To be honest, I was more shocked that you knew the word ingested,” he gave her a soft yet subtle look. His eyes shimmered slightly, and his face flushed slightly pink. She didn’t fully notice because by the time it happened, it disappeared. He looked at another photo, pondering at the family photo Zelda had up.

“Do you ever miss your mum?” he asked blatantly. Zelda’s eyes shot up to meet his. They weren’t bargaining, rather he was just asking.

“All the time,” she whispered back. Her mum had passed away when she was only a small child. Link had known Zelda then, watching her life fall apart when her mum was emitted to the hospital. He didn’t continue to poke and prod, he just pressed his lips together before going onto the next photo. It was another childhood photo. 

Link pondered on the photo way too long. It was a photo of Tarry Town, where their parents would bring them to go shopping and eat. It had changed a lot since then. In the background, there was a tiny Link, back against the camera, pointing to something in the corner. Probably a bird.

“Your dad asked why I haven’t been over in a while. Why didn’t you tell him it was because you hate me?”

Zelda stopped doing whatever she was doing, eyeing him like it was blatantly obvious. She let out an audible sneer, “how awkward would that be.”

Link lifted his eyeline back to Zelda’s, narrowing his eyes together, “oh so, why do you hate me?”

“You’re unbelievable,” Zelda scoffed, He didn’t have to act so innocent. It honestly made him seem pathetic. Of course, he knew exactly what he did. How could he not? “I cannot believe you.”

Link plainly shot back, “Don’t get it? You haven’t talked to me in four years. How would I have known?”

“Known that I stopped talking to you because you chose Mipha to be your partner in eighth grade!” Zelda blurted out in retaliation. Link paused. 

“What?”

“Just… forget about it. It doesn’t matter now.”

“You’ve been avoiding me for four years because I chose a different partner for my assignment?”

She remained stunned. What could she possibly say? She never said anything about this aloud and now that she heard herself, she sounded insanely petty. 

Yet, her stubbornness didn’t stop her. “Not… just that…” she fumbled on the words. 

Link cut her off, something very unlike him. He didn’t sound angry, rather, his tone was quiet and like he had a realisation. “You stopped talking to me because I did my assignment with Mipha?”

Zelda said nothing.

“You know I can have more than one friend, right?”

“Hey,” she instantly got up and pointed a finger at him, “we are not friends anymore. And yes, maybe this all started because you decided to do your poetry thing with her but that is not everything.” She began pacing around her room, frantically listing things off the top of her head. “Firstly, you started excluding me from groups of friends and would decide to hang out with them instead. You decided to stop hanging out with me all together when you joined the fencing and archery teams. Not to mention that you actively started avoiding me in sophomore year. Plus, you just waltz around the school, thinking you’re so much better than me- I mean people…”

Link didn’t choose to fight back. She needed to get everything out of her system before he could think an appropriate response. Zelda finally calmed herself, taking a deep breath before standing near the door, back towards Link. Letting that all out after it had been manifesting for years felt so… GOOD. But when the silence in the room finally hit her, it was both mortifying and embarrassing to admit all of this directly to Link. She didn’t want to turn around to face him. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of comebacks and solid reasons for why her anger over these years was ultimately about nothing. She didn’t want to face Link either because he must’ve been preparing to tear her to pieces or because she openly just ripped a wound and she just obliterated his feelings.

She couldn’t see him, but he just blankly looked at her. 

He cleared his throat, slowly approaching her. “I’m really sorry I did all that to you.”

Zelda turned around, her eyes red and her mouth quivering. Her eyes began making tears and her breath was shaky. He didn’t seem to possess any anger or frustration towards her but in fact, gave her a look of concern. He was worried about her. He took a step closer, ensuring not to intrude on her personal space and nervously asked her, “you deserve to feel any way towards me. Whether that be anger or resentment or upset. I didn’t know I was making you feel that way and I never intended you to feel betrayed. I’m so incredibly sorry Zel.”

Her eyes swelled even more, the tears falling out faster the more time past. She didn’t move, crying in the corner of her room as her sobs got more intense. Link gently placed a hand on her back, causing her to flinch a little, before he whispered, “take a seat. I’ll get you a box of tissues.” His voice was smooth and kind, his touch making her melt and comforted. How did he have this much power over her? He guided her to her bed, the comforter and blanket feeling gentle against her skin. Link’s hand went from her back to her arm before slowly letting go to go fetch some tissues. She watched him as he walked away, kind of missing his presence. He returned a few minutes later saying, “I couldn’t find tissues, but I found toilet paper.”

Her sobs turned into laughter. Link’s concerned nature weakened into mushiness. She wiped her nose, her giggles growing as she also wiped her tears with the toilet paper. Link kneeled in front of her, his smiling growing when she returned it and looked directly into his eyes.

“Why, are you so nice to me? I’ve been so… petty these past few years,” Zelda asked, sniffing between each sentence. 

Link’s eyes looked directly into her soul. His eyes, blue as the mythical Naydra dragon. “Are you okay for me to speak now? Do you have anything left to say?”

His response shocked her. She bit her lip and shook her head.

His face blushed red; he could feel the burning sensation on his cheeks as he opened his mouth to speak. “I had a crush on you back in middle school. I knew you didn’t see me as more than a friend so I never decided to pursue anything, knowing full well that you probably wouldn’t reciprocate. I, uh, god this is embarrassing, I couldn’t really focus with you around and I got really insecure that you thought that made me stupid or something. So, I teamed up with Mipha for that English assignment, I tried out archery and fencing. I even got a tutor in sophomore year to tutor me for maths just so you could see me as someone worthy or smart enough. I decided to push away from you because, you were such a big distraction. That sounds so stupid…”

“So stupid,” Zelda sadly laughed.

Link nodded his head, “but I thought you also had outgrown me. I know I developed new friends, but it was my poor judgement to think that you might’ve wanted to join. I came off as a neglectful jerk. So, if anyone should be apologising, it should be me. I’m so sorry I started excluding you and that you felt like that. But hey, I’m glad that we’ve cleared it up… I hope.”

Zelda nodded her head enthusiastically. He returned a charming smile, one that sent her heart twice its speed. He got up from his kneeling position, playing with his hair. Zelda got up too. Before Link could process what was happening, Zelda wrapped her arms around his shoulder, embracing him into a delicate hug. He was stunned but ultimately returned the simple gesture.

“We’re so stupid,” Zelda said as her face was pressed into Link’s shoulder.

“We really are,” he replied with a chuckle. They didn’t let go, neither of them knowing what to do next. She loosened her grip on his shoulders, dropping her arms to her side.

“You should go home now. It’s pretty late. Your mum must be worried,” Zelda suggested, placing her hands in behind her. 

They both proceeded to save and pack up their progress. Zelda offered to walk him out to his bike, which was parked on her driveway. As the sky dimmed into black, Zelda held her phone torch out, depicting the slight light as she held conversation with Link. The conversation no longer felt forced or empty, rather, it was full of nostalgia. She missed this. She missed the inside jokes and the witty banter, as well as his laugh when either of them said something funny. 

They made it to Link’s bike. “I guess I should get going.”

Zelda’s light shone directly on Link’s face as he was unable to see her genuine smile falter slightly from that sentence. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. We have Physics third period.”

He threw his helmet on, his hair once again being smoothened by how tight it was on his head. He was about to take off before he turned to Zelda, “hey, Zel?”

She perked up.

“By the way, I hope you don’t see me as trying to outshine you anymore. I’ll tell you now that I will never be able to do that,” his charm radiated like an aura, “you know I’ll never be as perfect as you.”

He kicked up his bike stand before driving away. Zelda was left in the darkness with only her wondering thoughts. 

Her mind circulated between two thoughts. One, that he liked her and two, that he thinks she’s perfect.

•••

Link drove home. His thoughts free to roam as he felt the wind push against his body. He stopped at the traffic light, which mocked him with a red light.

He regretted not doing one thing; telling her that he still liked her, even four years later.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any grammatical/spelling mistakes. If you want a continuation, please comment below.


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